Martin Luther Kings and Co.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929- 1968) is named after his father, “Martin Luther King,” who, lived from 1899-1984.  Though born as Michael King, the senior King changed his name when he entered his "ministry" career, to Martin “Luther,” King in order to be reminiscent of the famous man named Martin Luther, who posted his 95 thesis on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, October 31, 1517. King senior named his son after himself and his son, junior did likewise to his own son.  There is Martin Luther King the I,II, and III.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s son, Martin Luther King III, follows in his father’s footsteps as a political activist. He currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Realizing the Dream, Inc., an organization that  says it, “promotes and embodies justice, equality, and the ‘beloved’ community through specific sustainable initiatives in economic development, non-violence and conflict resolution training, and targeted leadership development for youth.... Realizing the Dream, Inc. is a 501c(3) non-profit organization that continues the humanitarian and liberating work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mrs. Coretta Scott King,” but this article is not about him, it is about his dad, Martin Luther King II.

King II, made it a point to say he was a Negro man, and he lived at a time in history that was in great turmoil, (much like every time in human history.)  He lived at a time when people involved in various political, religious, social and economic forces contended for superiority in our human systems.

It was a time of rising tensions between people groups, and rising tensions, as they often do, create an atmosphere of uncertainty.  Streets were bursting out with violence over racial issues.  People (of every color) lived in poverty and many lives were touched by all sorts of crime.  Government offices vulnerable to corruption themselves had to deal with corruption and with issues of war and threat of war.  In a time of tension, one voice that rose to the top of the heap was Martin Luther King Junior and he emerged well known as a social-political, even religious leader.


At this particular time in human history, “Christian” America, (a land founded on Biblical principals,) was under attack.  Darwinian thought on the issue of evolution was being accepted in the minds of many who thought of themselves as  "intellectuals." Some even falsely reasoned that perhaps God did use evolution for a means of creation, and if he did, (at least according to the theory of evolution,) then one could know the color of them that would be the superior race and the color of them that were not, and as thoughts spread like wilfire, so did emotion and fear.  In some place, particularly the south, prejudice was growing between races.
 
Prejudice was nothing new, but since harsh feelings and emotions about slavery and evolution theory  had been turned into segregation, Satan had new fuel for his destructive fire.  This fuel streamed like a river into American life. King, is honored today because in his day, he was like a firefighter, one who worked to put the racial prejudice fires that raged...out.  He did this by organizing people to gather and demonstrate, and encouraging them to have a voice without perpetrating violence. 

King Jr. also was a man who stood out as being concerned about “right and wrong” particularly according to Biblical principals, for example, that all people, red and yellow black and white are precious in God's sight.  He even said that he believed that it was the Bible that led him to choose the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest over hatred and violence. King rightly declared to believe in an America where all people, regardless of color, would one-day sit together at one table, and where liberty and justice for all would reign. 

For such noble thoughts, King was even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,  after which Martin Luther King Jr was reknown as "a man of peace."  Then, one day in 1968, he was assassinated, and for this reason, many people now consider Martian Luther King Jr. a martyr for his faith, but it might surprise you to know that King, "man of peace" that people claimed him to be, didn't believe in the biblical Jesus.

Here in America, we now honor King in January via a National holiday that commemorates his birth.People think of him as a Christian minister, they consider hims a great leader, one incinciting people to non-violent political confrontation in order to create crisis and a platform for change. This angent of change is probably most remembered for a speech he gave August 13, 1963, when he gave the world his vision, saying, "I have a dream..."

King's famous speech, titled, “I have a Dream,” was given to the world during a march on Washington.  His dream, he said,  was “a continuation of 'the American Dream.'  King himself described it as "the dream of a new reality upon the earth where all of God's children, could sit down at the table of brotherhood dispite outward differences, a world where character was what described a person,."  He said in his speech, “ black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, would be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

One would think King were a Christian, being a "minister" and all. (After all, he pastored Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama. and even was a promoter of peace.)  He attended thological seminaru he quoted scripture he talked often about God, and people even often called him “Reverend.”  However as a man of the "Christian faith" Martin Luther King extensively studied not Jesus Christ or the Bible, but the writings and words of other men, like Gandhi.

It is well know that King was greatly influenced by Ghandi's views and philosophies,  King even traveled to India in 1959 to learn how to employ Satyagraha, Ghandi’s preferred method of social change. King, it would seem from the words he left behind, preferred the wisdom of a man named Ghandi over Jesus.  King also enjoyed the philosophy of Henry David Thoreau.

Thoreau, who believed that Jesus Christ was the "Prince of Reformers and Radicals" even said, "Christ was a sublime actor on the stage of the world,..... he taught mankind but imperfectly how to live; his thoughts were all directed to another world. There is another kind of success than his." (The Writings of Henry David Thoreau)

What “other” kind of success might this be, but earthly?

Like Thoreau recommended, King directed his thoughts, to another kind of success. His thoughts and actions were not directed “to another world” like Jesus, but rather to this one.  The man whom angels proclaimed would bring peace on earth, goodwill to men, Jesus Christ, took second placethe mind of Martin Luther King Jr, (or maybe had no place at all). 

In a 1949 paper written for a class, (source:Standford University's  The King Papers Project, ) King refers to the ‘unscientific doctrines’ of the Christian faith held forth in the Apostles Creed, as "mere myth." Whether he was analyzing the contents of a book or giving his own opinion is not necessarily clear from the paper, but what is clear is that King does not speak in defense of scripture, or in the “defense” of the divinity of Christ. This paper of King's was written in response to a question that basically asks, “What led the early Christians to come up with the doctrines they hold as stated the well-known Apostles Creed?”Listening to King one would think, they had no basis, except for "mere myth," and what they borrowed, (the idea of Logos) from the concepts of the Greeks.

Instead of upholding the Christian doctrines, King not only states that the Apostles Creed is based on myth, but he causes confusion for people about Jesus' divine birth.  He suggests to his reader that the origin of the concept of the virgin birth of Christ, is again the Greeks, as he says it is reminiscent of their mythology.  King also “reminds” his readers that the term "virgin birth" is absent from the New Testament, and that "most likely" there is some misinterpretation of a term for “young woman,” translated "virgin" in the text.  His choice of words indicate he believes that scripture is not true on such matters, and that the Apostles creed is invalid  as the beliefs it contains is only "mere myth" as well.  All this is enough to rightly question the viability of King being either a Christian or a Christian Pastor.

But wait, there's more:

In a paper titled The Humanity and Divinity of Jesus, archived at a  Stanford webpage, (Stanford .edu) King wrote, “To say that the Christ, whose example of living we are bid to follow, is divine in an ontological sense is actually harmful and detrimental".... and "the orthodox view of the divinity of Christ is in my mind quite readily denied.”

In 1977, according to the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Educate webpage,  Coretta King granted history Professor Clayborn Carson permission to examine papers stored in boxes in the basement of the King family home. These papers, sermon notes, outlines and sermon texts, in King's own handwriting, reveal that King’s concern about poverty, human rights and social justice, but they also reveal that king had his own beliefs.  According to Dr, Carson of the King's Papers Project at Standfor, King believed, “the Pentateuch teachings were written by more than one author," " that the whale did not swallow Jonah,” and “that Jesus never met John the Baptist."  King also wrote that he believed that the American Christian church was “the greatest preserver of the status quo” thereby, “one of the chief exponents of racial bigotry.”  King also noted in the margin of one of his books that he was "ashamed of Christianity, but not of Christ.".

Was Martin Luther King Jr. Christian or not?  A man of peace?  Reverend?  Pastor?  Was he a hero?  Martyr?  Did he preach Jesus, as a preacher, or simply a social gospel, the message of "change?" You'll have to decide.  There is a lot of both true and false information floating around about this man named King. 

Here is yet something more to consider: 

Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed, apparently assassinated, by a man named James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968. But this is another strange part of his story. There were no witnesses who actually saw Ray kill King, and to this day the whole crime remains shrouded in mystery. Ray, after first entering a plea of not guilty, changed his attorney and then he his mind about wheather or not he did it.  He pleaded guilty, but after he was sentenced, Ray insisted he was really not guilty

In 1998, thirty years later, Ray died in prison for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.